all u.s. schoolchildren compared with schoolchildren across the globe, from other industrialized nations. they said, our failure to close these gaps -- if we had close these gaps 10 years ago, we would not have suffered the recession we have now. our failure to do so has led to a permanent national recession larger than the one we are currently experiencing. they said that it has taken $2.30 trillion of our gross domestic product, money we could have added to this economy. we are now in a place where we are playing catch-up with countries that used to crave to be like us. it is so bad now that while our university systems are still where they should be in terms of reputation and attainment, no one from other countries want to send their kids over here to our k-12 schools. they do that there and then it they will say, will try some ivy league school. we need to seriously look at, what is it going to take to change that dynamic. in recent days, we have heard about the teachers' strike. i think t